Edin Terzic, Borussia Dortmund’s head coach, was present at the press conference after securing qualification for the Champions League Round of 16 with the victory at San Siro against AC Milan.
How important is the qualification tonight?
“The boys were exhausted, but they are very happy and satisfied with this qualification. We all remember the night of the draw when they talked about this as the group of death, saying we had no chance after the loss to PSG and the draw at home against Milan. Milan also needed to win today, but we wanted it more.”
The team seems more relaxed because it’s not considered a favorite, unlike in the Bundesliga.
“We don’t want to make any distinctions between competitions and opponents. We need to learn from this victory. Every 30 minutes, the team doctor came to tell me that someone couldn’t play: it was a high intensity match, they all worked hard for the victory.”
Will there still be motivation for the match against PSG?
“All the matches in this group have been hard-fought. Milan had control for large parts of the game, but we were always dangerous. We want to improve to be more decisive in certain situations, perhaps by scoring earlier. PSG? We don’t want to make any distinctions between the various matches: we will play to win, not giving anything away to PSG, Newcastle, and Milan. There will be 80,000 people at the stadium, and we can finish as group winners, so we will give our all. I am always highly motivated.”
What was the tactical key?
“You can talk endlessly about tactics, but we entered the game with the right mentality. They pushed us on the wings but we kept the full-backs and center-backs deep.”
Hummels had a great game.
“Very important. He has enormous quality and experience: he has seen everything there is to see in footballer.”
